Are you guys more into the hardware than the games?

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forsberg78

Weaksauce
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Aug 24, 2008
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I've been playing on PS3 and I want to get back into PC gaming soon, and part of the reason is because I like playing with hardware. With the PS3, it's just buy the game, and play the game, that's it. But with PC, you need to tinker around with the settings and stuff to maximize the FPS, which is kinda cool.

But my concern is, do you guys get too obsessed with playing around with the perfect settings such that the "fun" part of playing the game is gone? Like instead of worrying about whether you are using the right gun, now you're just worrying about whether the FPS will hold up for this level, and if not, you need to quit the game and check the forums to see how to fix it?
 
That is not the case for me. I spend a minute or two playing with the settings and then just play the game. Some games allow ini tweaks and this obviously takes a bit more time if I want to get the most graphical goodness out of the game, but it's worth it. What does take up a lot of my time (due to it being so addictive) is downloading and trying out various mods. I probably spent more time browsing Oblivion's mod forum looking for new mods to try than playing the game. :)
 
I have a Q9450 and a 8800 GT (with a GTX260 still in the box that I haven't installed yet) and the game I play most on a regular basis is WoW.
 
i only tinker for about a month to get every thing maxed and perfectly stable then its all gaming from there....
 
I love tinkering too, but it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the game. Once I get my graphics tweaks all set I'm usually done right there. But if there are lots of mods to be had (ala Oblivion) I can spend a ton of time downloading, installing, running (or troubleshooting, lol) all these new mods.
 
Not much to tinker with in this day and age due to the sheer power of most hardware components. Heck, my GPU is back to stock settings and I lowered my processor OC to 3ghz...all games still run just like they did before!
 
For me, graphics are very important, but not what defines the game. So I do like to choose the best graphics card for the money I have and pushing it to its limits, by changing the settings myself, instead of letting the application do a system check and decide it for me.
With this, I achieve what looks best to me, while keeping performance smooth enough not to interfere with my gaming experience. It usually is not a very time consuming process, so I get to play the game very quickly. But there are games, that require more work. If that work is too much, I probably just end up letting the app decide for me. It's rare though. The bottom line for me is that playing the game is more important, but since nowadays I believe graphics are a very important part of a video game, I try to take advantage of everything my hardware has to offer.
 
I used to buy high-end games just so I can have excuses to horde more high-end hardware...but ran out of money quickly that way, and most mainstream games nowadays are incredibly shallow, not enough to justify the investment.
 
I actually enjoy tuning and working on the hardware nearly as much as I enjoy playing games on it.
 
I must say it's probably 60% tinkering and 40% actuall real usage for me. :)

Kinda SICK, I know.

Hmm, let me spend $1,000 every 8 months just to see my box boot up faster and do other things faster. Oh, and hopefully there's a game worth playing in the meantime.

Ok, not quite that bad, but it does seem like it.

I totally didn't need a 4.4GHz E8600 over my 4.0GHz E8400.
I totally didn't need 2 Velociraptors over my 3 WD740ADFD Raptos
I totally didn't need and OC'd GTX260 over my OC'd 8800GTX

Ugh.
 
Dan_D said:
I actually enjoy tuning and working on the hardware nearly as much as I enjoy playing games on it.
Click to expand...

Same here, I enjoy changing the settings to see what I like best, tweaking configs, downloading visual mods, getting the most out of my hardware.

If we just played games like Oblivion, STALKER and Crysis without any of the visual mods and custom configs it'd look 1/2 as good and/or run 1/2 as well.

Its the same way people like to take their engine apart and put it all back together, I love to delve into my PC and tinker, overclocking is also a large part of that.

I totally didn't need a 4.4GHz E8600 over my 4.0GHz E8400.
I totally didn't need 2 Velociraptors over my 3 WD740ADFD Raptos
I totally didn't need and OC'd GTX260 over my OC'd 8800GTX
Click to expand...

I hear ya brother!

I totally didn't need a 3.6GHz Q9450 over my 3.2GHz E6600.
I totally didn't need a new Velociraptor over my 2 WD 35Gb Raptors
I totally didn't need 2 4870's over my OC'd 8800GTX

Somehow it all seems worth it, even when i get home some nights and all I do is browse all night and not even touch a game.
 
I don't tinker with games nearly as much anymore but I do tinker with my PC a lot doing other things
 
Depends really. I am very picky when it comes to FPS, I feel lag worse than most people. If a game feels laggy to me on max, I will try to tinker settings as much as I can to get more FPS ; yet keeping the eye candy.

I do also own PS3, but graphics on it suck compared to PC. PC hardware is so much more advanced, it't nuts. I simply love mah mouse + keyboard, better IQ, higher FPS that PC has to offer. It does suck that more and more games are being released for consoles vs pc, but what can you do?
 
I enjoy tinkering with hardware & game configs to get the most out of the experience. Right now, I'm mucking with Deus Ex IW (I still enjoy it despite the negativity) to get the damn load screen to stop blacking out on me... >_< Not much luck so far.
 
Can always set everything on medium and run at like 1280x720 resolution and 4x AA, then it will look like a console game but play smoother and youll never have to worry about FPS.

Squeezing graphical goodness out of a PC is an option, not a requirement. We wouldnt be doing it if we didnt find it to be fun also! Its not something to worry about, its a possibility to look foward to.
 
I love both! Gaming and my obsession with gaming related hardware is the reason I went into electrical engineering.

It's also one reason I'm a B student instead of an A student :D
 
Tinkering (tinkering more as modifying .ini files) with the software is what makes PC gaming a hobby over a fix, which console games have become.

Seems kind of mindless to play a game and not know what's really going on.
 
As of late, its been about the hardware for me. I'm moving on from my P4 cpu to a q6600 with an equivelent graphics upgrade to boot. Having such powerful hardware all of a sudden is a beautiful thing :)
 
Biskquik said:
Tinkering (tinkering more as modifying .ini files) with the software is what makes PC gaming a hobby over a fix, which console games have become.

Seems kind of mindless to play a game and not know what's really going on.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. An important part of the whole PC gaming experience for me includes all of that tinkering/tweaking/etc. Delving into the .ini files is where the magic occurs. :cool:
 
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